A tour leader shows off a bicycle ad by Pal (Jean de Paleologue), part of "Posters of Paris: Toulouse-Lautrec and His Contemporaries." (PHOTO: Ben Torres/Special Contributor)

As a teenager whose cultural taste was just forming, and therefore leaned toward the adolescently eclectic, I adorned my walls with posters of Mary Cassatt’s impressionism, A Chorus Line and (oh, the indignity) the ewoks of Star Wars (in my defense, I also had the Harrison Ford poster). I had no idea that I was, in my unsophisticated way, continuing a tradition that dated to the late 1700s, when the printing technique of lithography was invented by Alois Senefelder, ushering in the use of posters for advertising.

The golden age of posters, beginning in the 1870s with the work of Jules Chéret and flowering with the heyday of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, Pierre Bonnard, Lucien Métivet, Alphonse Mucha and many others in the 1890s and early 1900s, is gloriously depicted in the Dallas Museum of Art’s current exhibit, “Posters of Paris: Toulouse-Lautrec & His Contemporaries,” which was organized by Milwaukee Art Museum.

SCBWI

Jules Cheret's "Folies Bergere le Dompteur Noir."

Posters were so popular during this time that they spawned affichomanie (“poster mania”), with some collectors using nefarious methods to swipe their favorites off of Parisian walls in the dark of night, and poster parties where attendees dressed as their favorite characters and constructed elaborate tableaux staging poster scenes.

As with any great exhibit, you’ll be enthralled just strolling through and taking in the amazing variety in style, use of colors and size. But, as always, the true fascination comes with taking in the details. This isn’t a huge exhibit, but I could have lingered all day reading the accompanying text to each poster. If you go, give yourself at least a couple of hours.

The requisite dancing girls, in a poster by Toulouse-Lautrec.

The exhibit’s posters are mostly brightly colored, seeming to overflow with joie de vivre and the endless amusements of Gay Paree.

Novelist and critic Joris-Karl Huysmans, according to the exhibit catalog, once facetiously praised the improvement of previously drab Parisian streets with the posters, quipping, “Were I the strict incarnation of the prevailing taste of the day … I would seek to prohibit the exhibition of M. Chéret posters. … In fact they ruin the uniform sadness and dullness of our streets.”

An 1894 poster by Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen, showing his daughter Colette and the family cats.

I also loved the harlequins of Henri-Gabriel Ibels; Pal’s (a.k.a. Jean de Paléologue) futuristic pieces depicting dancer Loie Fuller, a “goddess” and her bicycle, and the utter magnificence of a kerosene lamp; and the work of Steinlen, who frequently used his darling red-haired daughter, Colette, and the family cats as subjects in his work.

As you exit the exhibit, you’ll enter an area with information about lithographic printing, and also a table and art supplies where you can create your own poster.

Families with small children should know that there aren’t as many dancing girls as you might expect, but the posters do show off a fair amount of good-natured depravity and the occasional bare breast. Compared to the works of, say, Rubens, however, this is tame.

Finally, fair warning: Take money for the gift shop. I came home with a poster, of course, of a Steinlen piece sporting a wicked-looking black cat, a couple of magnets and a T-shirt (same kitty), a tea towel showing Steinlen’s daughter and her cats, and a mug with the feisty rooster of Cocorico, also by Steinlen. Oh. I guess I have a favorite poster artist! Sorry, ewoks.

The exhibit runs through Jan. 20 at the DMA, 1717 N. Harwood St., Dallas Arts District. $14 for adults, $10 for seniors 65 and older and military personnel with current ID, $9 for students with ID, free for children 11 and younger. Exhibit admission includes general DMA admission. 214-922-1200. DallasMuseumofArt.org.